CARDBITRAGE
TF Legend
Hello! I am planning on a two month long backpacking trip across Europe. Most countries in Europe have an extensive rail network and I wanted to use that to my advantage. I have heard that the trains in Europe usually do not run on time, so if I were to miss any connection, it becomes quite a headache. So to mitigate such troubles, I have decided to go with a continuous 2-month Rail pass so I will have all the flexibility to take any train when I want, making it stress-free. I will be covering the following countries:-
1. France
2. Belgium
3. Netherlands
4. Luxembourg
5. Germany
6. Switzerland
7. Czechia
8. Austria
9. Hungary
10. Slovakia
The purpose of opening this thread is to understand if there is any limitation to using the Rail pass in the countries listed above, so if anybody has any experience in this I would highly appreciate it if you could share your experience here. I also would like to know the procedure for booking seat reservations in some of the countries mentioned above.
Edit: Sharing some of the things I learned
After long discussions with several people, I have decided to skip Spain and Portugal on this trip, because Spain and Portugal need seat reservations on almost all the trains(highspeed) on the Eurail Network and the reservations can't be made online. So it will become a nuisance getting the physical seat reservations done. Moreover, the slow trains(without seat reservation-free) take way too much time to connect between two places and are not worth the time and effort. It will not be practical to not use the Eurail pass in these two countries and one would be better off directly booking the bus/train tickets in advance.
Eurail in Italy would also require you to make a reservation on almost all the trains(highspeed). But you can find a lot of trains(without seat reservation-free) if one is willing to sacrifice a little bit of your time. Eg: Milan-Venice would take 2.5 hours on a direct high-speed train(15€ seat reservation). But the same route on a slow train(without seat reservation-free) would take 4.5 hours with one transfer.
Eurail Pass in Switzerland is limited to travel between towns/cities. Most of the mountain trains/gondolas/ferries are not included, it would be better to consider one of the Swiss travel passes(based on your itinerary) to cover these experiences. Some of the popular scenic trains like the Bernina Express, Glacier Express, and Golden Pass are included in the pass(can be booked for a small reservation fee) which can cost between 15-30k each. So that will more than make up for the cost of the Eurail pass which is a bonus.
Travelling in Scandinavia can be expensive, so it is good to get a Eurail pass for these countries.
If your itinerary mainly consists of Eastern Europe, you can skip getting the Eurail pass as the trains/buses are very inexpensive to book individually. Moreover, many countries are not covered in the Eurail pass, like the Balkans and the Baltic states. So you can skip the pass if you're travelling extensively in these countries.
The Eurail pass is worth it only if your itinerary involves a considerable amount of train travel covering multiple countries mainly in Western and Central Europe. In my case, the Eurail Pass is a boon, but it pains me to pay the extra reservation fees for some trains when the Eurail Pass itself costs a considerable amount.
Hope this helps anyone who is planning a similar trip. 🙂
Will update this thread post my travel
1. France
2. Belgium
3. Netherlands
4. Luxembourg
5. Germany
6. Switzerland
7. Czechia
8. Austria
9. Hungary
10. Slovakia
The purpose of opening this thread is to understand if there is any limitation to using the Rail pass in the countries listed above, so if anybody has any experience in this I would highly appreciate it if you could share your experience here. I also would like to know the procedure for booking seat reservations in some of the countries mentioned above.
Edit: Sharing some of the things I learned
After long discussions with several people, I have decided to skip Spain and Portugal on this trip, because Spain and Portugal need seat reservations on almost all the trains(highspeed) on the Eurail Network and the reservations can't be made online. So it will become a nuisance getting the physical seat reservations done. Moreover, the slow trains(without seat reservation-free) take way too much time to connect between two places and are not worth the time and effort. It will not be practical to not use the Eurail pass in these two countries and one would be better off directly booking the bus/train tickets in advance.
Eurail in Italy would also require you to make a reservation on almost all the trains(highspeed). But you can find a lot of trains(without seat reservation-free) if one is willing to sacrifice a little bit of your time. Eg: Milan-Venice would take 2.5 hours on a direct high-speed train(15€ seat reservation). But the same route on a slow train(without seat reservation-free) would take 4.5 hours with one transfer.
Eurail Pass in Switzerland is limited to travel between towns/cities. Most of the mountain trains/gondolas/ferries are not included, it would be better to consider one of the Swiss travel passes(based on your itinerary) to cover these experiences. Some of the popular scenic trains like the Bernina Express, Glacier Express, and Golden Pass are included in the pass(can be booked for a small reservation fee) which can cost between 15-30k each. So that will more than make up for the cost of the Eurail pass which is a bonus.
Travelling in Scandinavia can be expensive, so it is good to get a Eurail pass for these countries.
If your itinerary mainly consists of Eastern Europe, you can skip getting the Eurail pass as the trains/buses are very inexpensive to book individually. Moreover, many countries are not covered in the Eurail pass, like the Balkans and the Baltic states. So you can skip the pass if you're travelling extensively in these countries.
The Eurail pass is worth it only if your itinerary involves a considerable amount of train travel covering multiple countries mainly in Western and Central Europe. In my case, the Eurail Pass is a boon, but it pains me to pay the extra reservation fees for some trains when the Eurail Pass itself costs a considerable amount.
Hope this helps anyone who is planning a similar trip. 🙂
Will update this thread post my travel
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